It is generally held that the feudalism in Europe found its "l'apo-gée" in the 12th century in France and Italy, in Germany a century later (R. Boutriche, daps Rapports : [IX^e Congrès international des sciences historiques. 1950. p. 445) According to this view, the period of completion of feudal monarchy which occured in the 13th century is bound to be excluded from that-of feudalism. But isn't it allowed to take these two periods coinciode with each. other ?
In the above mentioned thesis relating to the growth of feudalism, the completion means the widest spread of this institution. If then, feudalism will mean, sometimes, nothing but ananarchy. Medieval history shows us that the feudalism was generated from the political situation of that time as a means supplanting the paralysed organisation. of government; if so, feudalism, in spite of its anarchical tendency, . must have played a rôle for the maintenance of political order. Then, feudalism is not necessarily an antinomy to the state ; rather, we may say, they find their synthesis in the feudal monarchy. In other words, the feudalism found, in a well-organized feudal monarchy, its most developed case. So we are to conclude the period of maturity of feudalism covers that of feudal monarchy.
Now, on the other hand, we must be entirely free from all the prevailing opinions which are liable to take the political achievement of feudal monarchy of the 13th century only for a premise to the absolute monarchy. Of course we should not say that this point of view is thoroughly wrong. But in the first place it must be kept in mind that the feudal monarchy none the less has its " feudal " character. And we should not easily be deceived ourselves by the rapid progress of money economy in the 13th century and its effects upon the state-life, in other words, upon the growth of the system of direct government of king.
This phenomenon was not suddenly appeared in the course of the 13 th century, but in a less conspicuous degree it existed through all the feudal ages and was so to speak "sine-qua-non" of the feudal state, so long as this remained a state. The historical meaning of the rapid growth of the system of direct government in the 13th century will be found in the fact that the king then found the first chance to utilize wholly the feudalism as a most efficient means of his administration. So we may conclude that feudalism was brought to completion when feudel monarchy had completed its political organisation.

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The organization of the officialdom under the " Taihö-Ryo (_??__??__??_) (Taiho Code), which was laid down on the model of the Law of -Tang Era of China, was accomplished on the foundation of the ancient social customs and institutions gradually formed before the Taika Era.
The present treatise is mainly to enquire into the way how the heads of powerful families in the country used to be appointed and placed in the organization of the officialdom-the circumstances of appointment-and, above all, the institution of " Gun-ji (_??__??_) " or the chief of an ancient Japanese administrative district.
According to the " Taiho-Ryo, " the appointment of the government officials was made, as a general rule, in consideration of the candidates' abilities and moral characters. However, it has been often pointed out that the Taiho Government from time to time appointed as "Gun-ji" the heads of powerful families id the country or old hereditary landowners.
Thus, the present treatise consists of the folhwing items :
(1) A general view of the local administrative institution before the Taika Era.
(2) A table, in which practical examples of the appointments of "Gun-ji" during the periods ranging from the Taika Rescript in the year 646 to the Proclamation of the " Taiho-Ryo " in the year 702, are shown, together with the observation of the origin and social standing of "Gun-ji. " "Gun-ji " were appointed from among the heads of powerful families in the country, their positions being low 'in the official ranks.
(3) An inquiry on the character and the function of " Ge-i (_??__??_) " (outer court ranks in the Law. of Taiho). "Ge-i" were the court ranks given. to the heads of powerful families in the country whose representatives were " Gun-ji. "
(4) A comparative study on " Gun-ji " and " Liu-wai-kuan (_??__??__??_) " in the Law of T'ang Dynasty of China. The regulations concerning Gun-ji " as government official were modelled upon those of " Liu-wai-kuan " which "was the lowest official rank in the Law of T'ang Dynasty of China.
The above-mentioned inquiries, as a conclusion, show that the regulations concerning " Gun-ji " were never a mere imitation of those of "Liu-wai-kuan" in the Law of T'ang Dynasty, but were laid down due to the settled and consistent policy of the central government authorities to suppress and control the class of the powerful families in the country.

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According to the views heretofore asserted, the office of In-no-Ho-kumen (literally, the north side of the ex-Emperor's palace). has been held to have been founded by the ex-Emperor Shirakawa with the intention of anticipating his programme of In-Sei (government by the ex-Emperor). Therefore its foundaion is of deep significance. But these views are not correct.
In-no-Hokumen at the time of its foundation had no definite functions, nor was there any standard in existence by which to appoint its members. The fact was only that those who had some connexion with the ex-Emperor were called by him and served him with regards to his personal routine work. But, in the later Heian-period, the so-called Bushi (Knights) came to be appointed to these posts, the title "Hokumen-no-Bushi (Knights who held posts in the In-no-Hokumen) " came into existence, and the In-no-Hokumen naturally played a part in promoting the influence of the ex-Emperor. The character of the In-no-Hokumen thus made a complete change in comparison with that of the same office at the time, of its foundation. Therefore the foundation of the In-no-Hokumen is, in its situation, completely different from '.that of the Sehnen-no-Bushi (Knights who held posts in the west side of the ex-Emperor's palace) by. the ex-Emperor Gotoba. The foundation of the Seimen-no-Bushi by the ex-Emperor Gotoba was inspired by the later In-no-Hokumen which had already completely changed its character.

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The Taiko-Bitsuryo (_??__??__??__??_) of Japan is generally held to be an imitation of the Lü-ling (_??__??_) of T'ang (_??_), but the Ko (_??_) and the Shih (_??_) of T'ang also were consulted in making it. This essay makes it clear that the Gumboryo (_??__??__??_) of Japan was modelled after a certain passage on rocket in the Ping-pu-shih (_??__??__??_) of the Kai-yüan (_??__??_) period of T'ang quoted in the Wu-chin.y-tsung-yao (_??__??__??__??_) which is included in the Ssu-k'u-ch'üan-shun-chen pen (_??__??__??__??__??__??_), studies the difference between the rocket systems of the two countries, and considers the reason why that difference had come into existence.

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